World Report

NAIROBI, Kenya -- As U.S. Navy ships looked on, Somali pirates sped away Thursday with $3.2 million in ransom after releasing an arms-laden Ukrainian freighter -- ending a four-month standoff that focused world attention on piracy off Somalia's lawless coast.

The Navy said it couldn't seize the bandits for fear of endangering 147 other seamen still held hostage on other hijacked ships.

So, within sight of two nearby U.S. warships, the pirates counted the cash -- air-dropped by parachute -- then took off in motorboats, pirate Aden Abdi Omar said.

Source: Charges to be dropped in terror trial

The senior military judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay is expected to drop charges Friday against a suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing. The legal move by the Hon. Susan J. Crawford would bring all Guantanamo cases into compliance with President Barack Obama's executive order to halt court proceedings at the Navy detention center in Cuba.